Ipswich green may be public safety site

Thursday

The Select Board rescinded its Sept. 17 decision to name the green next to the Hall Haskell House, in front of the Ipswich War Memorial, the Middle Green.

The vote will now come after a decision is made on the placement of a possible, new public safety facility.

Placing such a building there has been discussed in the past.

At the Select Board’s Oct. 1 meeting, Jim Graffum of the Ipswich VFW and Town Historian Gordon Harris told the Board the green should be named the “Memorial Green.”

More information and the opinions of citizens were needed before making a decision on the green, Harris said. Since there were memorials all around the green like the Vivian Endicott Memorial Garden in front of the Hall Haskell House, the Sally Weatherall Memorial Pond across the street, Harris suggested it be called the Memorial Green.

Graffum related the history of the monument, how it was first the Honor Roll for WWII soldiers and then rebuilt in 1984. He thought the green should be named the Memorial Green.

However, Graffum said, if the new public safety building were to be situated there, the monument should be moved to land next to the South Green Cemetery that the Appleton family donated to the town.